Saturday, January 2, 2010

What's the Matter With Kansas?

The AP flubs this entire story about Kansas state legislature planning to address, once again, late-term abortion laws there. Despite all the space given to this story, there's zero conversation about why women seek late-term abortions. While the writer, AP's John Hanna, does the usual represent-both-(manufactured)-sides-of-the-argument, he fails to get at the heart of the matter.

Abortion is a legal service, medically and scientifically proven safe, the third most common procedure in the US, sought by women in dire matters because they don't have proper contraception to prevent pregnancy (no one flippantly uses abortion as birth control) or in chance of losing their life. He quotes outrageous terms like "abortionist" instead of doctor. And where are the women in this story? Nowhere.

That abortion is the taking of a person's life is a religious concept. Kansas' continual discrimination against women and women's rights would be farce if it didn't cause so much damage to so many women. 57% of women in Kansas live in countries where abortion is unavailable; the state requires a waiting period before the service is performed, Medicaid does not cover the service; about 25% of women in Kansas have not had a doctor visit in the last year because they can't afford it. If women can't get contraception and can't get abortions, a state is forcing them to have children. Under the equal protection clause that is unconstitutional. It amounts to wealthy women having the freedom to choose how and when they reproduce and poor or minority women having no choice at all.

Hanna's inability to address the science or the facts surrounding abortion, Kansas' history with discrimination, the imposition of religious doctrine on a segment of society, or the fight in that state to further defund Planned Parenthood rendering a legal, medical service inaccessible is unconscionable from a national news source.

Abortion is a complicated issue that should be addressed as such. In a mature, fact-based manner. Simple continuation of the illogical "divide" regarding a private medical procedure is not informative reporting, nor is it representative of the issue and procedure. It is shameful.

Anti-abortion legislators in Kansas are pushing again this year to rewrite state restrictions on late-term procedures and for other initiatives, despite the murder of Dr. George Tiller.

Tiller was the face of the abortion debate in Kansas -- and sometimes nationally -- because his Wichita clinic was among a few in the U.S. performing abortions in the last weeks of pregnancy. Tiller's clinic has been closed since he was shot to death in May and no doctor or clinic elsewhere in Kansas is doing the same work.

But legislators who oppose abortion still expect to pass a bill requiring doctors who perform late-term procedures to report more information to the state and making it possible for them to face lawsuits if patients or others come to believe their abortions violated state law. Abortion opponents contend such issues are still compelling, even if no doctor or clinic is performing abortions as late as Tiller did.

Such a bill passed last year but was vetoed by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, an abortion rights Democrat, days before she was confirmed as U.S. health and human services secretary. Kansas House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lance Kinzer, an Olathe Republican, said he'll use that measure as a starting point for a debate this year.

Meanwhile, Sen. Tim Huelskamp, a Fowler Republican, said he'll revive his proposal to prevent $250,000 in federal funds from flowing through the state to Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, which operates an abortion clinic in Overland Park. The money is for programs to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and Sebelius' successor, Gov. Mark Parkinson, another abortion rights Democrat, vetoed Huelskamp's proposal in May.

Some abortion rights supporters had hoped for a break from the Legislature's perennial debates over abortion because of lingering revulsion over Tiller's murder, including among many abortion opponents. Abortion rights backers also contend the state's ongoing budget problems should take precedence.

But Kinzer and other abortion opponents see postponing the debates as a mistake.

"The number of variables that can come into play 12 months from now as opposed to proceeding now are impossible to calculate," Kinzer said.

Peter Brownlie, president and chief executive officer of the Planned Parenthood chapter, said he's not surprised at abortion opponents' plans. He sees the annual legislative disputes mainly as an effort to help anti-abortion groups raise money.

"There's nobody in the state of Kansas who's doing abortions past 22 weeks of pregnancy. It's a moot issue, from a practical standpoint," he said. "For the Legislature to continue to spend significant amounts of its time on an issue that has no practical impact is waste of taxpayer money and legislative time."

Abortion opponents believe they have the same strong majorities in both legislative chambers for a bill rewriting late-term abortion restrictions and are close to the two-thirds majorities necessary to override a veto.

Parkinson spokeswoman Beth Martino declined to speculate on whether he would veto such legislation, but in an interview only days after becoming governor, Parkinson said his and Sebelius' views on abortion are "very similar."

"His views have not changed since last April, as far as I know," Martino acknowledged.

Martino said Parkinson would veto Huelskamp's proposal on Planned Parenthood's funding again if it came to the governor in the same form.

Bob Beatty, a Washburn University of Topeka political scientist, said abortion opponents might do better to wait until after Parkinson leaves office. He's not running for a full term this year, and U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, an anti-abortion Republican, is a strong favorite to replace him.

Brownlie noted the trial of Scott Roeder, the man charged with killing Tiller, is scheduled to begin in Wichita the day the Legislature convenes. Beatty said it could cast a shadow over a legislative debate.

"In legislative sessions, it is a zero-sum game: There's only time and energy and political will for a certain number of issues," Beatty said.

For years, Tiller's clinic inspired abortion opponents to push for new restrictions on abortion, particularly after a fetus can survive outside the womb. By 1998, they'd succeeded in passing reporting requirements and restrictions on late-term procedures, but they've believed for years that the laws aren't adequately enforced.

Those enforcement issues still remain, said Mary Kay Culp, executive director of the anti-abortion group Kansans for Life. Several out-of-state doctors performed abortions at Tiller's clinic and one, Dr. Leroy Carhart, of Bellvue, Neb., considered opening a Kansas clinic after Tiller's death.

"The enforcement of the law remains nonexistent, which is inviting to late-term abortionists everywhere," Culp said.

Also, Planned Parenthood's funding is a big irritant for abortion opponents. Huelskamp rejects the argument that it's acceptable because it doesn't pay for abortions.

5 Comments:

I live in Wichita, KS, and like this article. I am just wondering where you found your number for 57% of Kansas women don't live in a county with an abortion facility. The reason I ask is that, with the closing of Women's Health Care Services in Wichita, the only abortion providers in the state are in Johnson County. I wonder how old that number is ... :(

It's not so much that it's a discrepancy. That number was accurate in 2008. Since Dr. Tiller's assassination this year, there are fewer women with access. It was already difficult for women in western Kansas to have an abortion, and now it's more difficult. That makes our "debate" over restricting abortion further all the more hurtful :(

Agreed, Carolyn. I had the assistant secretary of the USCCB's Pro-Life group tell me that while he knows Roe v. Wade won't be overturned any time soon, his objective is to limit abortion access in any way possible. We've seen this happening at the state and federal level for going on four decades.

Here's a great article by the fantastic Frances Kissling, former president of Catholics for Choice that gets at the heart of it: http://womensmediacenter.com/ex/010410.html

Obama's desire to repeal "Don't ask, don't tell" can actually help to fulfill the "days of Lot" (Luke 17, cf. Gen. 19), the fulfillment of which will hurry up the return of the Heavenly Commander-in-Chief who will make all things straight (pun intended)! Interesting Google articles include "Obama Supports Public Depravity," "Separation of Raunch and State" and "David Letterman's Hate Etc." For some dessert visit Yahoo and type in "Obama Avoids Bible Verses." PS - You're invited to use these new pro-life slogans: "Unborn babies should have the right to keep and bear arms - and legs and ears and eyes etc.!" and "Unborn babies should have the same right to be born alive that abortionists had!"

About Me

The Good Death: An Exploration of Dying in America will be published by Beacon Press in February 2016.
I'm a writer (and hospice volunteer) living in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and writing primarily about the nexus of death and religion for publications like Guernica magazine (where I'm a contributing nonfiction editor), Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Bookforum, The Baffler, The Guardian, and The New York Times.

I am a Visiting Scholar at The Center for Religion and Media, NYU, and a contributing editor at The Revealer, the Center's publication (where I was editor until June 2013). I write the monthly column, "The Patient Body."

You can find my articles at annneumann.com.
I can be reached at otherspoon@yahoo.com, @otherspoon